5 apps to make switching from Mac to Windows easier

The apps on this list will make switching from macOS to Windows much easier.

1. Flow Launcher

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The Windows Start menu becomes much more useful in Windows 10 than in previous versions. The bad news is that the Start menu has taken a step back in Windows 11, at least for certain workflows.

Flow Launcher takes strong cues from macOS's Spotlight, as well as aspects of the Windows Start menu and other launchers like Alfred. Press a predefined key combination and a text window will appear allowing you to search for apps, files and even websites from one place.

Of course, Flow launcher doesn't stop there. You can run system commands like Shutdown, run shell programs, and run your own scripts. The launcher even works as a simple calculator without having to open another app.

You can easily customize the app's look and feel, making it blend in with your system or simply stand out. The app also supports community-created plugins, so you can expect more features to appear in the future.

2. Ditto Clipboard Manager

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There's a pretty powerful clipboard manager built into Windows 11. Just press the Windows + V key combination and you'll see a history of everything you've copied recently. For most people, this works perfectly.

That said, if you're looking for a more powerful clipboard manager, Ditto is the app you're looking for. This can keep clipboards in sync across multiple computers, display thumbnails of copied images in the clipboard list, and other useful features.

3. AutoText

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There are many applications available to expand snippets into larger pieces of text or even full paragraphs. If all you need is to expand a few small snippets, the text replacement feature built into macOS is quite powerful. This is less true with Windows.

The good news is that there is an easy fix for this problem in AutoText. This is a simple free app (albeit with a commercial license) that makes easy-to-use text expansion perfect for everything from quick email replies to code snippets.

If you require extensive template creation or other similar advanced features, you may need to turn to a more expensive alternative like TextExpander. However, for simple uses, AutoText works very well.

4. f.lux

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Windows 11 has built-in features called Night Light to make your screen easier to see at night. Unfortunately, unlike similar offerings from mobile operating systems and macOS, there's not much you can do to customize this feature.

For years, f.lux has been at the forefront of precisely controlling your screen's color tones. Not only does F.lux let you apply more stringent settings to the color tones you're used to seeing, but it can also get quite granular about when and how your display changes.

While the built-in Windows Night Light suddenly changes the color tone of your screen at scheduled times, f.lux changes the color tone so gradually that you barely notice the color of your screen changing.

This isn't a feature many people will use, but f.lux even lets you control certain Philips Hue lights to control your home's lighting using the app. Not a feature for everyone, but still available.

5. PowerToys Awake

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Windows (and to be fair most other operating systems) can be very aggressive about dimming and turning off the screen. If you're using a laptop and want to save battery life, this might be helpful. Assuming you sit at your desk most of the day, this can quickly get uncomfortable.

On macOS, an app called Caffeine can be used to keep the screen awake. That application is not available on Windows, but there is an application built into Microsoft's PowerToys utility simply called Awake that does the same thing.

It's a simple app that sits in your System tray and runs quietly in the background. Just right-click on the application to tell it how long to keep your computer running for a certain period of time or simply indefinitely.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 30 March 2024